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  1. Negotiations

:: Across the board ::

This section contains news and analysis of sweeping developments that affect the overall push and pull towards FTAs and bilateral investment treaties. This means major trends relating to bilateralism, often with global consequences, and other cross-cutting issues. New developments arising from US politics, the WTO or South-South alliance-building, for instance, are often reported here as they tend to have systemic impacts.

last update: May 2012

Republicans grow skeptical on free trade
5-Oct-2007 WSJ
By a nearly two-to-one margin, US Republican voters believe free trade is bad for the US economy, a shift in opinion that mirrors Democratic views and suggests trade deals could face high hurdles under a new president.
Senator says US needs "new vision" for trade
3-Oct-2007 Reuters
Washington needs to "think bigger" than it has in the past few years and look at possible trade deals with countries such as Taiwan, Indonesia, India and Japan, US Senate Democrat Max Baucus said.
Negroponte fears that Chávez would win if FTA fails at US Congress
19-Sep-2007 El Universal
US Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte warned Tuesday that Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez would win and Latin American democracies would lose if the US Congress does not pass the Free Trade Agreements with Peru, Panama and "especially with Colombia."
Democrats change FTA views
11-Sep-2007 LBC
More and more US Democrats, many of whom have been skeptical about the Bush administration’s trade agenda in Latin America, now support pending free trade agreements with Peru, Colombia, and Panama.
UNCTAD warns poor countries on free trade deals
6-Sep-2007 Afrique en ligne
Though preferential trade agreements (PTAs) may offer transitory gains in terms of market access and higher foreign direct investment, the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) has cautioned developing countries to be careful before entering into such deals.
Stiglitz: FTAs advantageous to US
30-Aug-2007 The Edge
Nobel laureate and former World Bank chief economist Joseph Stiglitz believes that no country should enter into free trade agreements with the US, as none of the developing countries has benefited greatly from them.
Google’s free trade agenda
20-Jul-2007 Forbes
For the past several months, Google has been quietly lobbying the US government to include restrictions against Internet censorship as a stipulation in free trade agreements with other countries.
FTA push moves to top of Bush agenda
18-Jul-2007 The Gate
With the president’s top domestic priority — immigration overhaul — in tatters, the Bush administration is intensifying efforts to move its trade agenda on Capitol Hill, using national security as an argument for four free-trade deals it wants Congress to pass as quickly as possible.
US FTA talks hanging in the balance
2-Jul-2007 The Star
Trading partners of the United States will have less confidence that the United States can honour trade deals it is negotiating after Congress leaders announced that they would not renew the President’s fast-track trade authority, and also rejected two FTAs.
House Republicans push for Bush trade renewal
29-Jun-2007
U.S. House of Representatives Republicans sought a broad renewal on Thursday of the Bush administration’s "fast track" trade authority to conclude world trade talks and smaller bilateral deals.

    Links

  • #A18DoA - Global day of action to defeat free trade and investment treaties
    Website for the global day of action to defeat free trade and investment treaties #A18DoA
  • 21st Century Trade Agreements: Implications for Long-Run Development Policy
    A publication of the Frederick S. Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range Future. The paper examines the policy space available under various free trade regimes for countries pursuing industrial policies for development.
  • Alianza Social Continental
    La Alianza Social Continental es un foro de organizaciones y movimientos sociales progresistas de las Américas, creado para intercambiar información, definir estrategias y promover acciones conjuntas, todo ello encaminado a la búsqueda de un modelo de desarrollo alternativo y democrático, que beneficie a nuestros pueblos
  • ICC
    International Chamber of Commerce
  • Movimientos.org
    A multilingual (English, Spanish, Portuguese) website focusing on social movements and their campaigns, including those against bilateral and regional FTAs.
  • Pambazuka
    In this week’s edition of the Emerging Powers News Round-Up, read a comprehensive list of news stories and opinion pieces related to China, India and other emerging powers...
  • People over profit
    People Over Profit is a campaign network that unites peoples movements and NGOs across the globe to stop free trade agreements (FTAs) and corporate plunder, launched in October 2016.
  • Peoples Global Action
    In February 1998, movements from all continents met in Geneva to launch a worldwide coordination of resistances to the global market, a new alliance of struggle and mutual support called Peoples’ Global Action against "Free" Trade and the World Trade Organisation (PGA).
  • Regional/Multilateral Integration Agreements
    Selected research papers on regional trade agreements, from internationaleconomics.net
  • SOMO
    SOMO links the negotiations and rules on international trade and investment with the actual conduct of corporations within these rules and agreements.
  • South Centre
    An intergovernmental organisation of developing countries
  • Stop fast track!
    10 days to stop fast track in the United States: Jan 22 - 31 2014
  • Third World Network
    TWN’s website is a good source of information and analysis about what’s happening within the multilateral trade system (WTO, UNCTAD, G77, etc).
  • WorldTradeLaw.net
    WorldTradeLaw.net offers a free library of current trade news and resources; a database of dispute settlement tables and statistics; and a user-friendly search tool for legal texts, and other documents.